Google Ads API v22 Stops Working on 7 October 2026: What You Must Check

What Stops Working on 7 October 2026?

Version 22 of the Google Ads API. Google's own announcement is one sentence long and leaves no room for interpretation: "Google Ads API v22 will sunset on October 7, 2026. Starting on this date, all v22 API requests will begin to fail." Any script, connector, dashboard, bid tool or integration that still sends requests to v22 will start returning errors from that day, and Google's documentation adds that sunset versions "are no longer supported after the sunset date".

Your ads keep running. Campaigns live inside Google Ads, not inside the API, so nothing stops serving. What breaks is everything that reads from or writes to Google Ads through v22: the overnight report that fills a client dashboard, the script that pauses out-of-stock products, the connector that pushes spend into a BI tool, the bid management software, the AI agent you wired up last quarter. The failure is quiet. A dashboard that stops refreshing does not send an alert. It just shows last week's numbers.

Who Is Affected, Including People Who Never Touch the API?

Far more people than write code. The Google Ads API is the plumbing under most of the tools agencies and in-house teams use, so being affected does not require a developer on staff. If any software reads or changes your Google Ads accounts on your behalf, it is calling a specific version of the API, and the question is simply which one.

• Agencies with custom reporting: dashboards in Looker Studio, Power BI or a data warehouse fed by a connector or a script.
• Teams running scripts or automations: anything scheduled that pauses, adjusts budgets, updates bids or uploads data.
• Users of third-party tools: bid management, feed management, reporting suites, call tracking and CRM integrations that sync conversions.
• Teams experimenting with AI agents: connectors and MCP servers that give an assistant access to Google Ads.
• Anyone with an integration a freelancer built: the riskiest category, because nobody currently maintains it.

The last group is where October failures concentrate. An integration built once and left alone keeps calling the version it was built on until the day that version stops answering.

How Do You Check Which API Version Your Tools Use in 2026?

Google documents a direct method using the Google Cloud Console, and it works whether or not you wrote the code. Every request to the Google Ads API is logged against the Google Cloud project that made it, and the method name in that log includes the version number. If you see v22 in the list, something you own is still calling the version that sunsets on 7 October.

The Google Cloud Console method, as Google describes it

1. Open APIs and Services in the Google Cloud Console.
2. Click Google Ads API in the table.
3. On the Metrics subtab, your recent requests are plotted on each graph. You can see which methods you have sent requests to in the Methods table.
4. Optionally, select the timeframe you want to view.

Google explains what to look for in the result: "The method name includes a Google Ads API version, a service, and a method name, such as":

google.ads.googleads.v22.services.GoogleAdsService.Mutate

Any method beginning google.ads.googleads.v22 is the problem. Look across a long enough timeframe to catch jobs that only run weekly or monthly, because a monthly report that last ran on 30 September will not appear in the last seven days.

If you do not own a Google Cloud project

Then you cannot see the logs, because the tool calls the API from its own project. Ask the vendor or the person who built it directly, in writing, and ask for a version number rather than reassurance:

• "Which Google Ads API version does your integration currently call?"
• "Will it be on v23 or later before 7 October 2026?"
• "Which Google Cloud project and developer access does it use?"

That third question matters for a separate reason. Google's updated developer policy now prohibits programmatic proxies, and how a tool connects is the deciding factor. Our guide to the 2026 proxy and MCP policy covers what to listen for in the answer.

Check the client library version too

If your own code uses one of Google's official client libraries, the library version determines which API versions it can reach. Google's sunset page also notes that "client libraries no longer support the sunset API versions in any new client library versions after the sunset dates." Its compatibility table lists minimum library versions for v23, v24 and v25.

Google notes these minimums are sufficient for the major release; minor releases such as v25.2 may need a later library version, listed in each language's changelog.

Which Version Should You Move To in 2026?

The newest one you can test properly before 7 October. Google's guidance is that "we recommend that you always upgrade to the newest version", and that you do not have to upgrade in strict order: you can move from version N directly to N+2. Moving from v22 straight to v25 is allowed and saves you a second migration next year.

The arithmetic is worth doing out loud. Moving only to v23 buys you until February 2027, roughly four months. Moving to v25 buys you until August 2027. If you have to touch the integration anyway, the extra testing for a later version is usually cheaper than a second migration in January. v25.2 also brings genuinely useful additions, such as competitive benchmark percentiles, covered in our v25.2 guide for marketers.

How Do Major and Minor Versions Differ in 2026?

The distinction decides how much testing you need. Google states that minor versions "don't contain breaking changes", so moving from v25 to v25.2 is described as a drop-in upgrade. Major versions are different: Google's migration guide says "your endpoint will change when you change major versions", and major releases can rename or remove fields. A move from v22 to anything later is a major-version change and needs real testing.

Google's policy also explains the cadence you are on. It aims to sunset "a version 1 year after its release", releases a new version "every 3 to 4 months" on average, and says "you'll have to perform at most two upgrades per year." Build that into the maintenance plan for every integration, so October is a scheduled task rather than an emergency.

What Should You Do This Week in 2026?

1. Inventory every tool that touches Google Ads. Include scripts, connectors, dashboards, feed and bid tools, CRM conversion syncs and AI agents.
2. Check your Google Cloud Console Methods table for anything beginning google.ads.googleads.v22, across at least a month of history.
3. Email every vendor and freelancer for the exact API version and their upgrade date, in writing.
4. Upgrade your own code to the newest version you can test, using Google's version migration guide and the release notes for each version you skip.
5. Test against a non-critical account first, then confirm a full reporting cycle completes after the change.
6. Set a check for 7 and 8 October: confirm dashboards refreshed, scheduled scripts ran, and conversion syncs arrived.
7. Calendar the next one. If you land on v23, its sunset is February 2027.

What Are the Common Mistakes in 2026?

• Assuming you are unaffected because nobody on the team codes. Most exposure comes through tools and connectors.
• Treating "October" as the deadline. Google's reminder names 7 October. The timetable's "tentative" month is less precise.
• Checking only the last week of API logs. Monthly jobs hide outside short timeframes.
• Accepting "we are on it" from a vendor. Ask for the version number and the date.
• Upgrading one step to v23. It sunsets in February 2027. A later version saves a second migration.
• Treating a major-version upgrade as drop-in. Only minor versions carry that guarantee.
• Expecting an alert when it breaks. A stale dashboard looks normal until someone checks the date.

Key Takeaways for 2026

• Google Ads API v22 sunsets on 7 October 2026, and from that date "all v22 API requests will begin to fail."
• Campaigns keep serving. The tools that read from or write to Google Ads through v22 stop.
• Check the Google Cloud Console Methods table for method names containing v22, over a long enough window to catch monthly jobs.
• If a vendor calls the API for you, get the version number and upgrade date in writing.
• You can skip versions. Moving to v25 lasts until August 2027; v23 only until February 2027.
• Google upgrades the API every three to four months and expects at most two upgrades a year, so plan the next one now.

Distk audits the scripts, connectors and tools behind Google Ads accounts for agencies and in-house teams in India and internationally, finds anything still calling a sunsetting version, and makes the upgrade before the reporting goes quiet. With 7 October 2026 days away, that audit is where we start.

Sources

• Google Ads Developer Blog, "Google Ads API v22 sunset reminder", Ben Karl on behalf of the Google Ads API Team, 2 September 2026 (read via the blog's official feed).
• Google Ads API, Deprecation and sunset timetable and client library compatibility.
• Google Ads API, Upgrade your API version.
• Google Ads API release notes.